Guinness Beer Bread

 This March has been so strange. I upped my training days at the gym to four nights a week. Unless I cook early, or use the crockpot, most of the cooking now is done by Keith and the boys. They are supporting my health journey like troopers and exploring their own new recipes along the way. 

Last week for St. Patrick's day, Keith made a Guinness stew with venison from Joe's deer he shot and butchered at Christmas. 

Joe wanted to bake some bread to go with the stew. We found a recipe for Guinnes Beer Bread, it looked simple, and since we had Guinnes in the house from making the stew,  he tried it. It was amazing!! It has a beautiful texture and a nice brown color. It uses oats and brown sugar so it has a a good amount of fiber and just a touch sweet. Highly recomended. It went great with the stew and was enjoyed again for breakfast.

Guinness Beer Bread

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup quick cooking oats (+ 1 tablespoon for topping)

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

12 oz Guinness

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, 1/2 cup oats and salt. 

3. Slowly add the Guinness to the mix while stirring until just combined. 

4. Grease a loaf pan, pour batter into the pan, and sprinkle additional tablespoon of oats on top.

5. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean from the middle of the loaf. 

6. Allow the bread to cool for 15 minutes in the loaf pan, then turn out and cool completely on a rack. 

German Pancake

 

I went to make breakfast yesterday and discovered that I had run out of pancake mix. Last time I looked we had multiple boxes, but yesterday...no mix. So I went to my Pinterest breakfast board in search of some pancake inspiration. I found that I had saved this interesting recipe for German pancake. It didn't look too hard, so I figured I would give it a try. It was a huge hit, and I will totally make it again, and again.

What is a German pancake??

If you have ever had a popover or Yorkshire pudding...it's like that. The batter is egg heavy, and because you bake the pancake in a preheated pan with melted butter, the edges crips up delightfully crunchy, while the middle stays creamy. 

The beauty of this recipe is that it is baked in a 9x13 and serves an entire family. It beats standing infront of the stove for 25 minutes flipping pancakes for everyone. I just pop the pan in, go read a book for 25 minutes (or wash some dishes) and breakfast is done. 

We ate our pancake with berries and syrup, but you could serve it with jam or chocolate sauce, bananas and peanut butter...whatever you like. It is not a sweet pancake, so it also has savory possibilities. It would totally work as a base for an egg scramble or openface breakfast sandwich. (we will have to try that one!) It would probably also be awesome with ice cream!

German Pancake

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons butter

6 eggs

1 cup flour

pinch salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp almond extract (or vanilla if you like)

1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. While the oven preheats, place your 9x13 baking dish in the oven. I used an enameled cast iron pan, but you can also use a glass or metal pan.

2. When the oven has come to temperature place the 5 tablespoons of butter into the warming baking dish. Leave the butter in the dish to melt while you make your batter.

3. Place all remaining ingredients into a blender. Blend ingredients on high for one minute until light and fluffy.

4. Pour the batter mixture into the melted butter in the preheated pan in the oven. Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until the edges are fluffy, golden and crispy.

5. Dust with powdered sugar if you like. Cut the pancake and serve with toppings of your choice. Best served warm.